More Checkers [earrings]

Tan & Light Yellow Checker Huggie Earrings 

can be purchased HERE

I've felt a bit...overwhelmed and lost lately. I haven't gotten to my next weaving on my big loom because I need to dye for it. I have a weave structure that I want to play with on my little loom but I don't have specific imagery in mind for it...I need a bit more direction to get motivated for that weaving. So. Beading checkers. Talking out the weaving issue with my husband led me to the fact I probably need to just start with checkers on the little loom too. Checkers are my default. 

Meanwhile I've been wearing my various colored checker huggie earrings a lot. They're lightweight, easy and out of the way, I've made a few more in different colors. Above is the yellow and champagne checkers, below I was inspired to bead with 24K gold plated seed beads. I did a spray finish to help with the plated finish but these should not be rubbed or exposed to much water, if any. 

Purchase Gold & Olive Green Checker Huggies HERE

I thought that the gold with white would be a classy neutral, I made those first (below). One of the clothing additions to my collection is an olive green midi skirt that I'm leaning towards accessorizing with gold, thus olive green and gold checkers was the next obvious stitching (above). 

And last, checker circlet earrings. I don't lean towards red much, especially wearing it, but, some of my favorite ska band tees are red and I had the red, white and black beads out already for the Resist Bangle. So these large circlet earrings also came to be.

Shop Circlet Earrings HERE

I took checkers to the next personal level adding them to my slowly growing tattoo collection. I have wanted a checker arm band tattoo since my late teens, early 20's. Back then I thought it'd go on my upper arm, but in my 40s...well, thank goodness I waited because upper arms can get weird (mine included) and they may have not looked as even 20 years later. I decided instead to have them tattooed below the elbow of right arm. I went with my friend (for her first tattoo!) we decided to do a walk-in and I ended up with Mo (@mo.mo.tattoos on Instagram) who did an amazing job lining up a very straight, linear design on a very not-straight part of my body. The idea for my checkers probably started with ska music, but they also satisfy my attraction to even numbers, multiples of 2 and 4, things fitting together in a certain way, and a way in which I am constantly using to express myself in my artwork. Checkers just always feel right.

Last night on our way out the door to go to see Cake
Made by me: Olive and Gold checker earrings

Green, Neon and Neutral Checker Bangle

Totally Tank, design by by Jessie Maed Designs

Playing with Fire (Small Weaving)

I doodled these matches back in 2015. I had gotten divorced, I was out a lot and "playing with fire" was feeling like the best description for me and my life at the time. I was either lighting a fire or burning everything to the ground. I liked the look of this small sketch that I had drawn one night and set it aside. I didn't forget about it like I usually do when I doodle, it resonated with me.

Fast forward to now, my life is rather calm and I no longer have to manage drama and chaos. No more "playing with fire" in the figurative sense, it's a reminder of what that part of my life was like. 

So here we are now, I started sampling for a new commission and it seemed to be the perfect warp setup for this image that's been hanging around in the back of my mind and in my computer files for 9 years. I blew it up and started weaving. I don't feel like I have had a ton of success with my hand drawn designs but this is making me think that maybe I'd been trying too hard. Maybe I simply need to doodle and then blow up the design.

Black side detail

I'm referring to the side with more color as the "front" and the black based side as the "back" on this work. I'm quite taken with both sides. Just when I think I like the black based side better, the stark "sketchy" black lines of the colored side rope me back in. 

Colored side detail

This is woven from rayon that I dyed myself, the colored warp is plain weave and the black is a 2-2 twill. The finished piece measures 8.75 in x 16 in.  
 

Huggie Loop Stripe Earrings

I still bead at night, but it's a bit of a struggle to be inspired to make jewelry anymore since I'm no longer working in clothing retail. When I was in that job, patterns and color changes were abundant and what I wore to work mattered. Now what matters is my measuring, math and product knowledge, which, turns out, is a lot more fun for me. So, my jewelry-making struggles unless I have an event I'm planning an outfit for, such as Abigail's Wedding this past spring (which I created her hair pieces and new jewelry for myself).

In July I ended up planning an outfit to wear to the Sad Summer Festival. It was going to be hot and Jen got pit tickets. So, I had an outfit planned with my black Vans shortalls, closed-toed Chucks, and a loose tee. I had a color theme because I love my yellow 70's-look stripe platform chucks and I have a new yellow 15/0 seed bead I've been dying to use. 

I kept in mind being in the pit while panning these earrings and I didn't want them to dangle much, if at all. The pit usually involves lots of pushing and managing crowd surfers so dangly things can easily get caught and ripped off. I decided to make closed loops integrating the post and earnut as part of the design. The first pair I made I just focused on the colors in the shoes. They weren't quite what I had in mind, so I made a shorter "huggie" style pair with a black base and the yellow that I wanted to use so badly.

I finished and tried on both pairs while I was getting ready to go and really perferred the second pair, both in the short length and color. They worked really well for the outfit, and the pit (although we ended up on the side that didn't have the circle pit or crowd surfers).

I made a third pair while I was playing with some neon green beads I had gotten in Minneapolis last year which have a fun 80's vibe. I like that this style is simple and understated but has the pops up color and allws me to still play with color, plus they're easy to wear to work. These are headed to the Lansing Art Gallery for their Michigan Made Holiday show (Opening Reception is November 9th, 2023)

Mixed Stitches Curve Bangle (Experimental)

This piece started with my desire to get a curved St. Petersburg chain into my bangle design.  In it, not just attached to it. I started sketching and doodling, but at the end of the day I don't have a specific method of integrating these two ideas so I had to start making pieces.

First I didn't know what I wanted the middle accent bead of the curved pieces to be so I started there.  I knew I wanted to use the navy blue 15/0's as the main color and just started stitching rows with the different accent beads I had chosen.

I picked a middle faceted seed bead for the navy St. Petersburg chain and proceeded to start making short strips of it.  I had figured how much arching it could possibly take in this size and about the right length.  I also figured only 4 total would fit within the bangle structure I was planning, 2 on each side. This was way more planning than I usually like to do with my beading but I really really needed this design idea to get out of my head and into an actual form. I didn't know if it would "work" or not.

I tried to keep the bangles designs for the outside parts easy and not too busy. Working a kind-of blended horizontal stripe in the colors of the dress I was matching, I prepared these pieces separately. Eventually it was pieced together and its...ok.  I stopped before I got to filling in the whole piece with beads (which was my original plan). Leaving it open allowed for the St. Petersburg Chain arches to try to hold their own. If I kept beading and filled it in the chain would have gotten lost and there would have been no point putting in all the extra effort to make it in this way. I think. I could be wrong. 

It was as finished as I thought it should be. I let it sit, I wore it to Abigail's wedding layered with some other beaded pieces. It's fine but I'm not in love with it. I thought it had the potential to be a piece I could submit to exhibits but it's not there and the design kind-of fell flat for me. Sometimes our ideas are much more glorious in our minds and the reality isn't as exciting. I'm perfectly fine with not-exciting though. I think it's going to grow on me a bit more and it could be that start to something else in the future. It is time to move on to another project with different colors. I think I've been looking a blends of blues and purples for too long now and they're wearing on me. Onward and upward.

Open Circle Chain Earrings

 

Open Circle Chain Multi Fade Earrings .33in W x 2.5in H x 1in D

Do you ever finish a piece, take a few photos and think "those are even more amazing then I realized"? I have been loving the earrings in the above and below photographs. They go with my entire wardrobe (black, purple, muted greens) and are my current favorite go-to earrings. They are 2.5 inches long and because they are glass seed beads they are very lightweight which is important. I know I need lightweight in my ears these days but I still want to wear statement pieces.  I made this dark and moody multi colored set sometime after the holidays and I am just now getting around to getting photos and posting. 

I was dragging my feet on posting about these Circle Chain earrings because I have been wanting to make more but I keep getting distracted with other projects. Then the inspiration hit me to try out St. Petersburg Chain Stitch side by side with peyote (more to come as this idea brews more). So I set off on the below earrings:

Open Circle Chain St. Petersburg Earrings .33in W x 2.5in H x 1in D

This navy/purple/lavender set has a peyote stitch circle (mini bangle?) with a St. Petersburg chain loop.  The way I stitch St. Petersburg Chain it doesn't have the same kind of structure as its below circle.  I think this adds a nice little change in the shape and swing of this design. 

When I am coming up on teaching specific stitches it makes me think about other ways I can apply them, so these earrings are a little bit prompted by the St. Petersburg Chain Stitch Bracelet class that I am teaching with the Midwest Weaver's Conference in June.  Check out their classes and registration HERE. I still have plenty of room in both of my classes (I'm also teaching the Russian Leaf Stitch)

Then I got back to checkers. 

I made this first checker style earring in a color fade which I wore the NYE that we got engaged. I can't seem to part with that set just yet, I wear the earrings all the time and get tons of compliments. I had been meaning to make more so below is the first set that will be available for purchase.

Open Circle Chain Checker Earrings .5in W x 3in H x 1in D

Speaking of being able to purchase; I will have my jewelry at a 1-day Pop-up show at Gutman Gallery. It's on Saturday, March 18th and my pop-up will be in conjunction with a ceramic artist named Kris Cravens. I look forward to seeing and selling, I haven't done so since December. 

"Open Circle Chain" still feels like a mouthful for the name of these earrings. I had a few responses on my social media about ideas for names of these babies and this variation settled in the best in my mind. I think I'll be able to remember it to reference regularly.

Beaded Blob Earrings in Southwest Colors

I don't make this beaded blob earring style often enough. I just love them, and when I do make a pair the next thing I know it's been sold or they're off to a gallery.  I put together a really fun color pallet with the Wide Southwest St. Petersburg Chain Bracelet and decided to apply it to my beaded "blobs."  

These are heavier than my earrings usually are but they have a nice swing and a lot of personality.

I was thinking of beaded blobs from the past, here are a pair from 2016.

A blue pair from 2017.

And a purple pair are in this post from 2010 (before I started mixing colors and bead sizes).

Do you want to see these new earrings in person?  I'll be at Art Feast 2021 in Old Town Lansing on August 21st, 10am-5pm!  Come visit, check out local artists and food trucks!

Dolman Sweater

This sweater began with an award from a Michigan League of Handweavers Fiber Art Exhibit during the last Conference. My award was a gift certificate from Threadbender Yarn Shop. I decided to peruse the selection they had at the vendor's market.  I kept eyeing this yellow and fuchsia yarn, I had no idea what I wanted to make with it, and usually it just ends up in my stash as some sort of accent yarn to use for tapestry or Theo Moorman inlay.  Rather than adding this yarn to my stash I obsessed over it. I looked through hundreds of Ravelry patterns and against better judgement I decided I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I'd make one up as I went along. I had the idea in mind and I have just enough knitting knowledge to be dangerous. 

I knit samples for the first time ever, just to check gauge and make sure my yarn blending was going to be about what I imagined in my head. I had decided to knit a dolman style sweater; I kept being attracted to this style at Talbots and figured the slow increase would be simple enough to make up as I knit.  I had been knitting a lot of socks at AA meetings and I thought it was time to make something larger for myself. As this piece grew I realized I needed more yarn, I picked some up at Woven Art to blend in, but as I got to the yellow top I started to panic.  Thankfully I found some left in a yarn shop that posted on Amazon.  I could have made this a little bit longer now that I'm looking at the finished piece but I was too nervous that I'd run out of the yarn again and I wanted the sleeves/cuffs to be a solid yellow. 

I thought for sure that I'd have to flip this piece inside out and stitch the side seams up for a better fit, but as it turns out it's the perfect comfy, slouchy weight that I wanted.  I knitted this sweater using 2 strands of Manos Del Uruguay lace weight yarn on a size 4 needle. I'm guessing it took me just over a year to finish, I kept putting it down to think it over, wait for yarn, or I just wasn't into knitting in the evenings. With this quarantine all I have wanted to do is knit and hand stitch.  There's something really soothing about knitting, it's good for the soul while the world spins outside.  Which I need because I spiked a fever yesterday, freaked out, had to call in to work and go get tested. So now I wait. I am hoping it's just a seasonal cold because from what I've read the symptoms of COVID are similar. Let's hope that's all it is. I'm very thankful that I love hunkering down and being home with Bryan and the kitties. 

Vintage 70's Look Rainbow Bangle and Earrings

Something somewhere perked up my affinity for 70's looks and patterns lately.  It may have been the many eras that come up throughout Doom Patrol which we have been watching in the evenings.  I needed to get out the graph paper and make something "quick" to work on.  I was going to keep this design really simple with the detail of either side of the "rainbow" in only one place, but I decided to split it. I'm glad I did. I wore it yesterday and I think stripes most of the way around would have been a bit too boring for my taste.

I am still working on a pair of earrings that I'm happy with to compliment this bangle. The first design ended up looking too much like circles rather than a rainbow. They are really lovely on their own though.

The second pair of earrings are hitting closer to the mark, but I think I want a tiny bit of the off-white included in them. I do like creating a little asymmetrical feel to these; I think it could be even more drastic.

I'm taking a little longer to get mask orders made as I'm getting back to focusing on my usual work.  It's nice to be back to beading in the evenings and getting to the end of my large Leaf Me Alone weaving.

Spring Leaf Earrings and Bracelet

March floorset at Talbots has been a lot of this light yellow and medium blue. I've been moving it around, planning walls and generally inspired by this color combination while I'm at work so it was the next obvous color combination for my jewely.  

I haven't got a clue where the flower shell beads came from, I just add everything to my stash and I never really thought I'd use them, but they came in handy for these earrings.  The flower bead says "feminine" to me, but the earrings are largish and they become more of a blod statement piece than soft and flowery.

Yes, you'll be able to see/purchase this set at the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild Fiber Feast event on April 18th, 2020.  Tickets are still on sale.

Yellow!  I love that mustad yellow came in the fall and we're still getting yellow, this one lighter and more lemony.  I usually say that purple and green are my favorite colors but in the past 5 years I'm very attracted to yellow too.  Maybe because it's a happy color and I just keep getting happier over the years.

This color combination would not have happened if I wasn't staring at it all month at work.  It grew on me, and at first I was only going to make earrings but I but couldn't help putting the bracelet together too.  NBot that I've got the photos done and this blog up, I'm wearing the to work again today.

One of my favorite things about these (above) cluster earrings are the yellow faceted rectangle ston beads in them.  They were perfect for these earrings. This set of 3 clusterearrings is a good reminder as to why I keep everything I do in my bead stash.